Major £8m extension to Thorp Arch Estate in Wetherby will become a base for 130 jobs and provide free electricity to businesses

Phase four of Thorp Arch Estate’s Ash Way development near Wetherby will feature nine light industrial units, which will each have solar photovoltaic panels fitted as standard, making them operationally carbon net zero.

The 93,527 sq ft extension, which is being built for estate owner, Patrizia Hanover Property Unit Trust, will be divided into individual units of between 4,000 sq ft and 31,527 sq ft.

It is expected to be complete in November this year.

The scheme will comprise seven-metre-eave warehouses, up-and-over loading doors, heated offices, PIR operated LED lighting, loading yards and full fibre to the premises (FFTP), using Thorp Arch Estate’s superfast broadband.

Tim Munns, director of Wharfedale Property Management, which manages Thorp Arch Estate, said: “As we offer tenants an out-of-town parkland setting, high environmental specifications are important to us and we are pleased to be providing solar photovoltaic panels with free electricity, particularly during the current energy crisis, and creating premises which will be operationally carbon net zero as part of moves to help tackle climate change.

“We are already receiving strong interest from potential occupiers.

“Solicitors have been instructed on an agreement for lease for unit 21, the biggest in the new development at 31,527 sq ft, and there is significant interest in two other units.”

The new industrial units are being built by Castlehouse Construction, Leeds, with property and construction consultants, LHL Group, York, acting for Patrizia Hanover Property Unit Trust.

Business occupiers include life sciences company Avacta and Nuffield Health.

The news comes as CBRE publishes its UK Logistics Market Summary for Q1 2022, which shows that only five per cent of industrial property take-up came from the online sector during the first three months of the year.

Despite experiencing a quieter quarter in terms of logistics take-up in Yorkshire and the North East, with only one build-to-suit deal of 400,000 sq ft completing, the firm said that a strong pipeline of deals is anticipated with the second largest amount of space under offer compared to other UK regions.

The region concluded the quarter at 5.8m sq ft with three build-to-suit units over 1m sq ft.

Yorkshire and the North East has the lowest vacancy rate in the UK at just 0.94 per cent but availability has increased by 52 per cent from the previous quarter, reaching 2.3m sq ft.

Take-up is predominantly made up of speculative under-construction spaces.

Nearly all UK regions have experienced rental growth throughout Q1 with Yorkshire and North East climbing to £7.75 per sq ft, a 24 per cent year-on-year rise.

Mike Baugh, senior director for CBRE Leeds, said: “The supply forecast is positive with circa nine million sq ft of space coming to the Yorkshire market over the next few years.

“This may sound a lot, but it only equates to two-to-three years’ worth of supply.

“In addition to the imbalance between supply and demand, the sector faces additional challenges including labour availability and the continued rise in construction costs.”

He added: “Interestingly, only five per cent of take-up came from the online sector for Q1 2022, while other sectors provided a significant amount, including 3PL (third party logistics), showing the diversity in the types of occupiers.”